Illustrations of political economy, Volume 8 (of 9)Martineau, Harriet
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Illustrations of political economy, Volume 8 (of 9)
Martineau, Harriet
Didactic fiction, English; Political fiction, English; Social problems -- Fiction
"True. It was not the English nation that drove me hither; and those who
did it never complained of my pursuits,—only of what they supposed my
principles. I wish I could bear all the sorrow of the mistake."
“Be satisfied to let them bear some of it, father. It will help to guard
them against a repetition of it. I am sure your own share is enough.”
"In one sense it is, Arthur. Do you know, I find myself somewhat
changed. I perceive it when I settle myself down to my pursuits; and to
a greater extent than I anticipated. It may be owing in part to the want
of the facilities I had enjoyed for so many years, and never thought to
part with more. I sometimes wonder whether I should be the same man
again at home, among——But let all that pass. What I was thinking of, and
what your mother and I oftenest think of, is the hardship of your having
to bear a part,—so large a part in our misfortune. I should wonder to
see you toiling as you do, from month to month,—(for I know that wealth
is no great object with you,)—if I did not suspect——But I beg your
pardon. I have no right to force your confidence."
“Go on, father.”
“Well, to say the truth, I suspect that you left something more behind
you than you gave us reason to suppose. If you had not come of your own
free choice, this idea would have made both your mother and me very
unhappy.”
“I have hopes that she will come, father. I have been waiting to tell
you, only for a prospect of the time when I might go for her. Nothing is
settled, or I would have told you long ago; but I have hopes.”
Dr. Sneyd was so long silent, thinking how easily the use of some of
Temple’s wasted money would have completed Arthur’s happiness ere
this,—benefiting Temple and the whole community at the same time,—that
his son feared he was disappointed. He had no apprehension of his being
displeased at any part of his conduct.
“I hoped the prospect would have given you pleasure, father,” he said,
in a tone of deep mortification.
"My dear son, so it does—the greatest satisfaction, I assure you;
though, indeed, I do not know how you were to become aware of it without
my telling you. I know my wife’s opinion of her to be the same as my
own. I only hope she will be to you all that may repay you for what you
have been to us: indeed, I have no doubt of it."
Arthur was perfectly happy; happy enough to observe that the clouds were
parting, and that,—as science had been so lately pronounced the great
end for which his father was living,—it was a pity his observations
should not be renewed.
“If science be the great object we think it,” observed the doctor the
next time he was obliged to suspend his labours, “it seems strange that
it should be pursued by so few. At present, for one who devotes himself
to the end, thousands look not beyond the mere means of living. I am not
afraid to call it the end to you, though I would not have done so in my
pulpit this morning without explanation. We understand one another.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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